Bruce F. Evertson

Bruce F. Evertson, 64, of Kimball, died on Tuesday, February 4, 2014. Memorial services were held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 8, 2014 at the Kimball High School Auditorium. Inurnment will be held at a later date. Friends may stop at the funeral home on Friday from 1:00 until 4:00 p.m. to sign the register book and leave condolences for the family. Memorials have been established to Pheasants Forever or Ducks Unlimited, in care of the Bruce F. Evertson Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 397, Kimball, NE., 69145. The services for Bruce have been entrusted to the Cantrell Funeral Home.

Bruce Frank Evertson was born in Sidney, Nebraska on August 15, 1949, the son of Dee and Lyle Evertson, a farm and ranch family in Kimball County, Nebraska. In addition to helping on the family's farm, Bruce went to work in the oilfield in his early teens. He learned the oil business from the ground up as a basic laborer – a roughneck – digging trenches, laying pipe and whatever else he could do to get oil on his hands. He worked in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and of course Nebraska. He loved the oil business and worked nights, weekends and whenever he could get away from school. He attended Kimball County High School and was very proud of the fact that his football teams went undefeated for two years and were the North Platte Valley Champs in 1965. He always said that his football coach Bob Riley was one of the most influential men in his life.

In 1969, he married Jeannie Cannon. From that marriage he had two children. His daughter, Julie, was born in 1969 and from that moment on he had a "Daddy's Girl". Eleven months later his son, Eddie was born and as a 20 year old man with two kids that only meant one thing to Bruce.......I better start making some money.

In 1974, at the age of 24, Bruce started his own work-over rig business, growing it into a 5-state operation. At the same time, he was building an oil field trucking company and an oil field rental company. During this busy time, Bruce studied and obtained his pilot's license. In 1975, he purchased the first of 7 airplanes that he would own. Shortly after that, his love for Nebraska football was cemented with season tickets in 1979. He has been a huge supporter of the program ever since. It did not matter what was going on, business or personal, there was never a home football game that he did not attend. Everyone knew that if it was Husker game day, he was unavailable for a couple of hours.

Around 1980 Bruce began taking annual fishing trips to Canada with numerous friends and his son Ed. That is where he met Howard "Doc" Peckham who to this day remained his best friend. People often referred to them as "The Odd Couple" with their constant bickering and arguing between the two that was done purely out of love. Several years ago, he switched his annual fishing destination to Alaska. He began taking his granddaughter, Alex, with the thought that it was something the two of them could do together since she had no desire to sit in a goose pit all day but did enjoy fishing. Three years ago he began taking his wife Dar and much to his surprise, she loved it just as much as he did. Not only the fishing, but just spending time with him.

In 1982, Bruce began to get heavily involved in exploration and production. With the help of Tim Wistrom his longtime friend and confidant, he became the largest oil producer in the state of Nebraska for a number of years with production in 7 states currently. At the same time, he opened a pipe-threading plant which he entrusted the day to day management to his friend Perry Van Newkirk that has been with Bruce since the beginning.

Bruce married Darla Haase in 1989, they recently celebrated their 25 year anniversary. During that time they enjoyed travel and spending time with the growing family, especially their grandkids. In 1994 they took their first trip to Desert Falls golf resort in Palm Springs and there their love of golfing in the desert was born. They bought their first California home in 2000 and last year they completed the construction of their dream home on the Madison Golf Course in La Quinta, California.

Bruce loved goose and duck hunting. In 1994 he purchased several miles of river ground hunting property near Lisco, Nebraska. As a family, a tradition was born that every Thanksgiving was spent at "The Cabin". When the grandkids started coming, he passed on his passion for hunting onto them. He came to the conclusion that he did not have near enough pit space for the amount of grandkids that kept coming so he purchased an additional 6 miles of river ground to ensure that they would always have a place to hunt. Bruce's first bunch of heifers are due to start dropping calves any day.

Bruce decided to test the international market and moved into South America in the drilling and work-over business. In 1995, he started Evertson International – Bolivia and in 1996 along with his lifelong friend, Chuck Southard, Evertson International – Venezuela, which is still a very active and successful company.

Bruce sold his work-over rigs in 2002, but along with his engineer, Phil Kriz, was still very active with his exploration and production companies, constantly looking for new areas all around the country to develop.

Bruce had also pursued real estate investments in several areas, including Dallas-Ft. Worth and San Antonio, Texas.

Bruce always talked about growing up on the farm and riding horses, so for many years he looked for the perfect spot to bring a part of that life back. In 2009, he purchased 8 miles of property on the Madison River in Montana along with adjoining farm houses and 7000 acres of farm ground, and cattle. He brought in his partner and great friend, Steve Akin, to manage this dream for him.

Bruce had never been a politician, but was very vocal of his strong Republican support, political beliefs and gun rights and was a very strong advocate for a limited federal government.

Bruce loved spending time with his family and friends at the river, on the golf course, at the ranch branding cattle or watching Nebraska Football. He was always making sure the calendar was booked with family and friends for every trip. Julie always wanted to go so she could spend time with him. So instead of telling her no, he just stopped telling her when and where he was going. It was a well know fact that when he said "Wheels are up at ......", he meant if and if you weren't there he would leave you behind, he waited on no one. He will forever and always be sadly missed.

He is survived by his wife Darla Evertson of Kimball, NE; mother Dee Graham of Cathedral City, CA; daughter Julie and her husband Jerry Wamsley and their children Garrett, Alexandra, Beau, and Conner all of Sidney, NE; son Ed Evertson and Kyna Wagner of Chappell, NE; sisters Diane Davega of San Clemente, CA, and Terry Green of Big Bear, CA; numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father Lyle Evertson.